The Basingstoke Beekeeper

Spring 2001

Contents

Apiary Update

by David Purchase

I am writing this on 1st March having just been discharged from jury service. An interesting change from beekeeping and another strand in the rich tapestry of life!

This is a critical time of year for our bees when the risk of starvation and adult bee diseases (nosema and acarine) is at its greatest.

Each week I have been `hefting' hives in St. John's Copse. So far, emergency feeding has not been necessary. That could change. Weather, available forage, colony strength, etc, all play a part.

If a colony does die, the hive entrance should be closed and the cause of death diagnosed if possible. If in doubt, seek a second opinion. If the cause of death is uncertain, the brood comb should be destroyed and the hive sterilised as a precaution. Replacing brood comb in the spring is a good idea anyway and certainly pays for itself in the long run. See Beulah's guidance notes on comb replacement elsewhere in this issue. If you can't replace all the comb, then replace a third each year.

I have been monitoring some colonies for varroa. I have seen so few mites that it is very unlikely that I shall treat this month. In fact, I have never treated a colony in spring. By all means, if in doubt, treat. But if you don't need to, don't! You could be wasting your time and money and contributing to the build up of mite resistance to Apistan and Bayverol through over-dosing. No-one can give a precise treatment threshold. There are too many variables. However, the (much-maligned) varroa calculator is a useful guide if used correctly.

Peter McKinnon has succeeded me as Apiary Manager in the recent re-shuffle of the Committee. He is a competent and experienced beekeeper, ideally suited to the role. Tony Burton and I will work with him, but he does need your support as well as ours! Elsewhere in this issue you will see that apiary meetings will be held on Sundays rather than Saturdays. Hopefully, this will boost attendances, which have been very disappointing during the past two years.

The surprise resignations of Norman and June were partly responsible for the Committe changes. It is nice to see the return of John Peacock and to welcome a new Committee member, and comparatively new beekeeper, Nigel Winter. Both will bring fresh ideas and give the Committee new impetus. We are very grateful to Norman and June for the major contribution they made to beekeeping at district, county and national levels. They are still keeping bees and remain good friends of the Association.

In view of the foot and mouth crisis, it has been decided to cancel the apiary meeting scheduled for Sunday, 1st April. Although there are no livestock on land near to St. John's Copse, there are deer in the copse which migrate to other woodland in the area.

If, as we all hope, the foot and mouth situation improves within the coming weeks, then the apiary meeting will be reviewed. Please 'phone Peter on 326766 or me on 781288 for further information.

Of course, our bees are valuable livestock and their management must continue. In that context, Peter, Tony and I will take all reasonable precautions when visiting St. John's Copse.

Please don't forget the `drop in' evenings at 7.30 on the first Thursday of each month in the Study Centre. It is a completely informal evening when you can `do your own thing'.

I wish you all an enjoyable and productive beekeeping year.

Dave Purchase

Leaver Memorial Lecture

Pathogenic fungi: new ways to fight varroa

by Katie Shaw of Rothamstead Friday 16th March at 7:30pm Upper Bucklebury Memorial Hall, near Thatcham, Berkshire

Newbury Beekeepers Association warmly invites you to the 19th Annual Leaver Memorial Lecture, to be given by Katie Shaw of Rothamstead IACR.

This year our speaker will bring some fascinating news about ongoing research at Rothamstead on the search for suitable pathogenic fungi which can be used to manage the number of varroa in colonies. The research is now in its third year and Katie Shaw will report on the latest findings which we have heard are very promising.

The lecture is free and all beekeepers in the region are most welcome. We should therefore be very gratefull if you would the lecture amongst local beekeepers and coleagues -- and though yoyr magazine or newsletter if appropriate.

The lecture will be held at the Memorial Hall, Upper Bucklebury, near Thatcham, Berkshire.

Directions:

• Take the A4 to the eastern outskirts of Thatcham
• Follow the signposting to Upper Bucklebury and Cold Ash (turning right at a roundabout if coming from Reading or left at traffic lights if coming from Newbury).
• Follow any signs for Upper Bucklebury and, after about 1½ miles, at the top of a hill, the road bends to the right -- continue on past Peaches Grange and through Upper Bucklebury
• The Memorial Hall is the last building on the right before you reach Bucklebury Common. There is ample room for car parking beside the hall.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Fleming

Leaf Cutting Bees

by John Peacock (written in 1994)

I expect most people who have tended a garden or kept bees have noticed the leaves of certain plants have been eaten by insects.

As a child I sat for ages watching caterpillars munching their way through a variety of plants, I even kept some captive for a while as most kids have probably done. I learned then about the different species preferences for certain plants, and wondered why they ate only one foodstuff, sometimes to the exclusion of all other plants. Why for instance does does a beautiful butterfly choose to lay its eggs on a noxious weed when there are so many beautiful flowering plants? That sort of question of course is looking at the choices of where to lay your eggs from the human point of view, placing human values on other species lifestyle or needs acquired after many thousands of years of evolution, of making the right choices or dying out as a specie. What did happen to the Dinosaur?

The fascination of insects/animals and plants interaction has never left me. Fellow beekeeper Dave Purchase and I have discussed how we each sit for ages just watching our honey-bees toing and froing between hives and plants, bringing in their obvious loads of pollen and the unseen loads of nectar. As we know this is of benefit to both bees and plants, they have been doing it quite happily for thouands of years, not counting the times when man interferes to rob them of their hard won stores, or destroys the plants they need, or poisons them (albeit by accident) or introduces them to varroa. The human specie has a lot to answer for.

Last year I noticed a significant increase in the number of holes, or to be more precise circular pieces cut from from the leaves of my Zephrine Drouhine roses. This year there again seemed to be a significant increase in the damage. Keeping in mind what I have said earlier about the mutual benefit of insects and plants, this seemed to be of no benefit to the plant. One rose in particular appeared to be more holes than leaves. So since the weather was fine I made myself a large pot of tea, found myself a comfortable seat and sat under the pergola to observe/catch the culprits on film. (Big game hunter stuff this).

My wife insists that I am an impatient soul which of course I'm not. But ten minutes had passed already and nothing had happened, where are the creatures that have decimated my roses? Another five minutes passed and my mind started to wander, then I heard the familiar sound of a bee which brought me back to what I should be doing. In fact it was not one bee but two, they were inspecting the solid wooden beam above my head. They were about the size of a small bumble bee, one had a bright yellow underside to it's rump, the other was similar to a honey-bee in colour. I stood up to have a closer look at what they were doing whereupon they flew off, so much for the stealth of the hunter.

Another five minutes passed interminably (perhaps I am a little bit impatient) then I noticed a bee flying purposefully. You know how they fly when in attack formation, or how they leave the hive during a honey flow, as though they were flying on a wire when they head off into the blue. This bee knew where it was going. So camera at the ready I followed. First it landed on a leaf on the Zefrines Drouhine, changed It's mind, landed on a second leaf, changed it's mind again, (each time it landed I had to refocus my camera, because the focal length is so critical in close-ups) Anyone who has done this gains an even greater respect for wildlife photographers. One technique is to preset the camera to a suitable distance and speed, then move the camera to the target rather than trying to refocus. Ed. It chose another leaf, landed, cut a neat circular piece out of the leaf, grasped it in it's feet and was airborne before I had finished focussing my camera. Am I slow or was that bee fast? You remember Speedy Gonzales the cartoon character? this bee would have left him standing.

I returned to my seat vowing to be ready when the bee or bees returned. Another ten minutes elapsed with the occasional sound of bees, but nothing on the roses. Then above my head a bee returning from cutting a leaf, (from where I knew not) it was showing interest in the solid beam above my head as thge bees I had observed earlier had done. Then suddently it disappeared into a crack in the wooden beam I had not noticed before. It didn't drag the leaf in the hole so much as walk in with the leaf held underneath in a horseshoe shape, with the open end downwards, just as it had carried it when it was flying. The leaf was as big as the bee, almost the size of a twenty pence piece, but curled up.

I hadn't realised the crack in the beam was anything more than a crack, but on closer inspection I found the beam to be quite rotten. Then the bee reappeared from another hole, or was it another bee? Another two or three minutes passed and the bee returned with another leaf even bigger than the previous one. The leaf was again carried with the open end down with the bees legs wrapped around the leaf and it's feet grasping the edges of the leaf, in this way I assume the leaf offered less wind resistance. I haven't managed to observe how the bees walk into the holes whilst carrying the leaves but they do so without a pause; although I have since seen them having a rest on the top of the beam before flying in, not unreasonable when you think about the effort involved in cutting and carrying a leaf equivalent to a human being carrying a single bed mattress.

I settled down to watch for any bee cutting leaves on the roses while still keeping an eye on the holes in the beam. The longer I watched the more fascinated I became with these wonderful creatures. Their housekeeping was superb, all the time I sat there pieces of debris were being ejected from the holes, occasionally pieces of leaf were also thrown out by mistake due to overzealous housewifery. A dried pupa case was thrown out whole; I assume most of the other pieces of brown debris thrown out was last years pupae cases, although some excavation was going on.

Knowing how interested two friends of mine are in all things related to bees I invited themn round to observe the spectacle first hand. June and Norman were as fascinated as I was. Norman had seen it on film but had not seen it live. He then told me how the Americans manipulate the American leafcutter bees to pollinate the huge areas of alfalfa. The method is similar to the beam on my pergola. The Americans pre-drill thousands of holes in beams of wood, then they place them in railway wagons and take them to the alfalfa fields, whereupon the leafcutter bees lay their eggs in the predrilled holes and wrap them in leaves. (The eggs will hatch the following year) At the end of the season the beams are taken away and the holes full of eggs are trepanned out and then stored over winter. In spring the "pencils" of wood containing the eggs/pupae are returned to the alfalfa fields where they are left to become the next generation of leafcutter bees. This exercise is then repeated ad infinitum.

Norman and June left to pick up their grandaughter so I thought I would pack up the camera for the day as I hadn't seen another bee actually cutting leaves. But the moment I touched the tripod a bee flew down from a different part of the pergola and settled on a different rose to the one I was focussed on, I quickly turned the camera around and started to re-focus on the subject by the time I was ready the bee had cut the leaf and frown (*!*!** the air was blue *!*!!*) Several hours had bees spent trying to capture these "beeeees" on film and they seemed determined not to be filmed. By now I was equally determined to to have something to show for my days work. So I re-focussed both my mind (what was left of it) and my camera on what seemed the only leaf left on the rose; right next to the one that had just been cut.

How long would I have to wait? How much patience have I left? I settled down to wait. Seconds seem like hours when you are willing something to happen. But almost immediately, not one but two bees appeared flying down like the aircraft on a computer game, zig-zagging from side to side. Which one would cut the leaf I am focussed on? would either? Surely one will perform for the camera. The impossible happens, one lands on the leaf I have in my sights. (My camera is fitted with an automatic fast wind-on) The bee starts cutting, I start clicking the camera shutter. Eight shots taken in under under five seconds just managed to capture all the action I had waited all day for. If all leaf cutter bees work this fast and I assume they do, it's hardly any wonder few people have seen it actually happening.

I sincerely offer you this piece of advise, if you see a plant in your garden with pieces cut from the leaf, make a very large flask of tea or coffee, find a comfortable seat, some patience, and wait for nature to perform.

John Peacock

Chairman's Report

by Chris Mounty

Thanks to all of you who came to the AGM and participated in a lively meeting. For those of yoo who did not manage to get there, may I introduce your committee for the coming year. I am continuing as Chairman and David Purchase is now our Secretary. Tony Burton has kindly taken over our finances as Treasurer and Christine McKinnon is "Speaker Secretary". Peter McKinnon is now Apiary Manager, so may I remind members that they must obtain Peter's permission to plce further hives in any Association apiary. John Peacock is in charge of Study Centre talks to outside groups and also of swarm collection, because of the relationship that he has built up with the local authorities. Also we welcome Nigel Winter a relatively new member on to the committee to add some zest and new ideas.

John Furzey and Christine McKinnon are delegates to Hampshire B.\ A. and I am registered as the spray liaison officer. A list of 'phone numbers appears at the end of this report if you would like to take a note of them, but we shall try to arrange a new loose leaf for the HBA handbook.

Our speakers meetings got off to a good start on 15th February with the most handsome guest BDBKA has ever received to our meeting -- Chelsea the barn owl, trailing John Peacock on the end of a piece of string. He took great interest in his audience to start with, patiently putting up with being pulled to show his colouring and prodded to show the depth of his plumage -- he had John's finger stuck up his ear 'ole -- all for a late tea of dead chicks! When allowed to fly free he viewed a video from the vantage point of The Bothy roof and later stood compliantly on everybody's arms whilst waiting for his ride home on the back of John's passenger seat. We all thought that Chelsea was marvelous -- Thanks John.

Your Association recently sent David Purchase on a weekend course on teaching the new beekeeping sylabus and at the next drop-in meeting on 1st March at the Study Centre, David hopes to have the OHP slides to show us -- be there! --

Don't forget the next full meeting in The Bothy on 15th March, which is a talk with slides on Desert Locusts by Jenny Denton, who used to research them.

Please try to support your committee, most of whom have worked hard over the years to make Basingstoke &District the well known and respected association it is today, our newsletter is the envy of every association in the country. And Finally: Please advise J.P. if you are interested in collecting swarms or wish to receive collected swarms.

Brood Comb Change

by Beulah Cullen

You will need

• Clean brood box filled with clean frames and new foundation
• Spare queen excluder
• 2 Dummy boards
• 1 gallon of thick sugar syrup (warm if possible) and a feeder

Method

• Early in March, clean the floor board.
• Mid March; remove any empty lateral frames from the old brood box; close up remaining frames and put in a dummy board. Put the new brood box directly on top of the old one, (no queen excluder) with new frames vertically aligned over the old ones and add a dummy board. Keep the surplus new frames safe until required.
• Feed colony with the gallon of warm syrup, put on top of the new brood box; trickle a little of the syrup down the frames to alert the bees to its presence. Bees will not secrete wax with only stored honey; they need an income. Clean (scorch) the roof and cover board before replacing.
• Bees will move into the new box and begin to draw the foundation. When there are enough cells, the queen will move up to lay. As soon as the queen is in the top box, put the spare excluder between the two boxes to prevent her from returning to the lower box. (Be absolutely sure the queen is in the top box!)
• Add new frames to the top box as required.
• Three to four weeks after insertion of the queen excluder, all brood in the bottom box will have emerged; the box can be removed, the wax melted and the box and frames thoroughly cleaned.
• It would be sensible to replace the floor with a clean one at this stage.
• It may be necessary to put a queen excluder over the upper box and add a super before removal of the lower box, if there is an early nectar flow.
• At all times keep watch on the stores and feed if necessary.

Recipe

HONEY-ROASTED SQUASH AND PEPPERS

Pale golden Waitrose Select Chilean Ulmo Honey is subtle enough to drizzle over vegetables before roasting. Serve on its own or with chicken or lamb.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 45-55 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1.3kg onion squash
• 4 sweet Romano peppers
• 2 red onions
• 8 vine tomatoes
• 1 head of garlic
• 4 large red chillies
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp Waitrose Select Chilean Ulmo Honey
• Sea salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190$\deg$ C, gas mark 5. Halve the squash, cut out the seeds and slice off the outer skin. Cut into thin pieces 5-8cm long. Place on a large roasting tray.

Trim the top of the pepper stalks, halve lengthways and deseed. Peel and quarter the onions. Keep the tomatoes whole with the green calyx attached. Add these vegetables to the squash.

Slice top off the head of garlic to reveal the cloves, peel, break it up and place it among the vegetables. Tuck in the whole chillies, drizzle over the oil and honey, and season.

Roast for 45-55 minutes, until golden, checking at least once. Move any that are caramelising too fast into the centre. Cool for 5-10 minutes. Spoon over any juices from the bottom of the tin, and serve with chunks of crusty bread.

Recipe courtesy of Waitrose (www.waitrose.com/honey/)

Diary

Unless otherwise stated, evening meetings are at 7:30pm in our Study Centre, The Walled Garden, Down Grange, Basingstoke and apiary meetings are 2:30pm at St. John's Copse, Oakley.

1 March

Drop-In to the Study Centre.

10 March

South Hampshire Beekeeping Convention 9:30 to 3:30pm \pounds 10 in advance, \pounds 12 on the door, includes lunch. Where?

15 March

In the Study Centre. Mrs J. Denton. Talk and slides on Desert Locusts.

5 April

Drop-In to the Study Centre.

1 April

Sunday Apiary meeting at St. John's Copse, Oakley.

12 April

Bill Dartnall. "Experiences of a beekeeping Fluologist"

28 April

Stoneleigh Convention.

3 May

Drop-In to the Study Centre.

6 May

Sunday Apiary meeting at St. John's Copse, Oakley.

5 May

Meon Valley Auction. Viewing from 10:30 on the day; Auction starts at 1:00pm prompt. The Village Hall, Greatham, Nr. Liss.

Saturday 12 May

In the Study Centre. Christine Matthews on identification of strains of bees. Please bring from your own hives, about 50 live bees in a jar.

17 May

In the Study Centre. Quiz or Video (TBD)

20 May

In and around the Study Centre. Down Grange Craft Fair.

7 June

Drop-In to the Study Centre.

3 June

Sunday Apiary meeting at St. John's Copse, Oakley.

21 June

In the Study Centre. Video.

5 July

Drop-In to the Study Centre.

1 July

Sunday Apiary meeting at St. John's Copse, Oakley.

19 July

In the Study Centre. Video.

2 August

Drop-In to the Study Centre.

5 August

Sunday Apiary meeting at St. John's Copse, Oakley.

16 August

In the Study Centre. video.

6 September

Drop-In to the Study Centre.

2 September

Sunday Apiary meeting at St. John's Copse, Oakley.

20 September

In the Study Centre. TBA

4 October

Drop-In to the Study Centre.

18 October

In the Study Centre. John Cossburn.

1 November

Drop-In to the Study Centre.

15 November

In the Study Centre. John Furzey

6 December

Drop-In to the Study Centre.

20 December

In the Study Centre. Bring and Buy sale, mince pies, tea and coffee.

Committee

In the Study Centre. 6 February, 3 April, 5 June, 7 August, 2 October, 4 December.